At a well-attended meeting of school co-ordinators held in the Conforti Institute on Wednesday 27th August 2014, participants were able to share some different experiences of implementing the Caritas Award in their schools.  These related to:

• classroom grouping and organisation
• communication with parishes
• retreat experiences and Mass for Caritas candidates
• enrolling for the SQA Religion & Belief Award.

Enrolment in Parish activities

Following discussion about the challenges in ensuring that candidates were “signed up for” appropriate parish activities, it was agreed that it is beneficial for the school to arrange an opportunity for parish priests and Caritas pupils to meet and talk about possible parish actions.  Pupils will then complete a new pro forma (see attachment below) to demonstrate that his/her parish priest had agreed to the particular activities which he/she would engage upon throughout the year.  Each school will be asked to provide this evidence to SCES by November.

Enrolment details

Schools have been asked to submit full enrolment details for their cohorts asap and by the end of September at the latest..  Journals are being distributed as soon as names have been received.  Following receipt of enrolment details, SCES will invoice schools for the first part of the enrolment fee, with the second part being sought following receipt of submissions for assessment by 31st March 2015.

Documentation

From the Attachments list you can download parish enrolment forms, logsheets, assessment sheets etc.

Caritas Badges

In the near future, for schools which are SCES RESOURCES subscribers, SCES will provide enamel Caritas badges to be worn on school blazers by enrolled Caritas candidates.